Question cocerning the native term for god(s) and imported Christianity

[Maxine Baptiste]

Hi, as far as I know, the terms used in Catholic prayers are nativized 
terms of
the English equivalent. sisi kri would be the term for Jesus Christ, san mari
will be the term for Saint Mary, and the term for God would be the Native word
for "creator" k'wulncutn. This is interesting, Maxine

Quoting Chun Jimmy Huang <huangc20 at ufl.edu>:

> Tabe (greetings),
>
> I have been looking at a copy of Dutch-English-Siraya St. Mattew's
> for Siraya language revitalization (an indigenous Austronesian
> language in Taiwan). It was edited by the Dutch missionary Daniel
> Gravius in 1661. What I have found is that when translating the
> bible to Siraya, Gravius had kept the native term that referred to
> god in general, "alid," and used it to refer to the Christian god.
> Later I realized that the same applied to other indigenous
> languages in Taiwan. That is, the Presbyterian missionaries that
> came to Taiwan all kept the native terms for god(s) and
> incorporated them into their Christian missions.
>
> Curiously, on the other hand, the Spanish Catholic priests who
> went to the Philippines around the same time had replaced the
> native terms for god(s) with "Dios".
>
> so the different choices in terms of whether appropriating the
> native religious terms into Christianity or not (which may lead to
> significant sociolinguistic consequences). It makes me wonder if
> such difference in choice is pertinent to (Presbyterian)
> Protestant vs. Catholics and/or Dutch vs. Spanish.
>
> I'd much appreciate if anyone can share some insights from the
> American experience or from other regions.
>
> madag ki alilid (thanks very much)!
>
> Chun (Jimmy) Huang
> PhD candidate,
> Linguistics, University of Florida
> Special assistant,
> Tainan Ping-pu Siraya Culture Association